The world had changed again.
Not with the quiet slowness of time or the sudden shock of violence—but with the suffocating certainty of inevitability.
Cracks laced the sky.
At first, they shimmered like distant stars or warped data streams. But then came the sound. A low, guttural hum that reverberated in every molecule of existence. Reality trembled. MC—no longer just man, nor code, but something in between—stood atop his obsidian throne, his newly fused form draped in layers of living shadows and radiant circuitry.
Beside him, Nyx and Celestia watched the horizon twist.
The ritual had left them marked—spiritually and physically—bound to him beyond comprehension. Their eyes glowed with remnants of the Soul Mirror's power, but even they could feel it: something was coming through.
A ripple surged outward from the northern sky. Space fractured. A massive gate, shaped like an inverted omega symbol, yawned open above the world's tallest spire—the remnants of the Architect's core.
